Dead Or School
, is an indie hack-and-slash game for the PC, initially released via Steam Early Access on June 9, 2018. Ports for the Playstation 4 and the Nintendo Switch are slated to be released on August 29, 2019. Staff *Mokuseizaiju - Director, Character Design, Scenario, Map Design. *Gaku "Miyamoto" Ninomiya - Animation, Monster Design, Level Design. *Tomomi "Max" Yamaguchi - Programming. Gameplay The game is a 2D platformer set on 3D-rendered dungeons, incorporating the aforementioned action style with RPG elements in a system dubbed "Metroidvania" by some gamers. There are many branching paths, some to advance the plot and the others leading to optional sections. The latter parts often have an item to get or a Refugee to rescue, sometimes accompanied by action sequences or simple puzzles. Plot In a dystopian future, human beings were contaminated with an unknown virus that turned them into Mutants. The battle between the surviving humans and the mutants was fierce, leading to a decisive confrontation to determine which species will ultimately survive and take control of the surface. The war raged on for 3 years but the mutants ultimately proved too much for humanity, leaving them with no choice but to give up life on the surface and take refuge underground. Fearing invasion by the mutants, the humans went further below the surface, digging as deep as they could. Human culture and know-how was almost completely lost to time as the humans desperately continued to escape from their sworn enemies in the years to come... 78 years later, a group of youths from Ikebukuro planned to go to the surface using a secret elevator. En route to the surface from the train station, they were ambushed by mutants but survived the attack thanks to Hisako, daughter of the Ikebukuro underground settlement's head. Hisako herself however, was also very curious about what the surface world is like despite a long-standing law among underground dwellers that it was a taboo subject with a corresponding punishment. Hisako's grandmother humored the former's curiosity, sharing what little memories she had left of the surface world. She starts by handing Hisako a uniform and telling her about "school", a paradise where children play and learn together. This inspires Hisako don her grandmother's old uniform, aim for the surface to find a school to go to, gathering friends along the way. Characters *Hisako *Yurika *Daiba *Yuki *Fou *Dr. Yoshitaka *Civilization Investigator Chairman Development The director Mokuseizaiju was a manga artist. His original series, Machine Doll Nanami-Chan was released via Manga Gocha, shown in various media sites and there are three published issues currently in circulation which can also be read via his blog. As he mentioned via part 1 of his development vlog in Youtube, the manga's reception was good, but the sales numbers were not enough to make ends meet. Because of this, he planned to create a game that would possibly sell well over a million copies. However, he knew that he could not do it alone, so he looked for people to assist. Joining Mokuseizaiju in his game development quest were Gaku Ninomiya and Tomomi Yamaguchi. Aside from his role as director, Mokuseizaiju will also handle human character design, scenario writing and level map layout. Ninomiya is in charge of level and monster graphics rendered using the Unity 3D program and 2D animation using Spine Pro. He also designed the Mutants and used the latter program to animate both the monster and character sprite models (primarily the main character Hisako). Yamaguchi on the other hand, will oversee all the programming aspects. With this, the indie company Studio Nanafushi came into being. Their development office in Koenji also doubled as a small bar called "365". One vlog part also showed them detailing the interior in between working on the game. The first order of business was to put together a promotional video to submit to Steam Greenlight. Subsequent parts of the development vlog documented this, as well as some proposed additions to the game proper. Due to numerous labor-intensive features they wanted to incorporate, the development time took a lot longer than expected even with part-time help, causing them to overshoot the originally intended release date of March 2017. On top of that, their development funds were also dwindling. To this end, they recorded an appeal video featuring Mokuseizaiju speaking in machine-translated English for the crowdfunding website Indiegogo. They were able to raise $6010 from 84 backers and development continued. Though they were able to pass Steam Greenlight at #4 and get an initial version ready for Steam Early Access, many of the proposed features had to either be simplified or abandoned altogether, like functional weapon modification, some weapon types, carrying Refugees to a specific destination, among others. Gallery File:DOSGamplay_Harajuku.jpg|Hisako in Harajuku Station. Release & Update History Version 1.00 Version 1.00 was released on June 4, 2018. During the first boot-up, a disclaimer warning will state that since the game is still under development, bugs and error occurrences would be commonplace and can be reported via Steam Community Hub. Moreover, the base game only had three levels available: Shinjuku, Harajuku and Ichigaya. Version 1.10 Early Access started at July 13, 2018 and came with an update that fixed the following issues: *Perfect dodge effect not occurring. *Japanese language font has some unclear characters. *The screen sometimes goes black after selecting Start Game. *Vertical sync changes not being applied. *Some mutant attacks not hitting. *Other minor fixes. Version 1.12~1.14 All released July 14, 2018. For 1.12: *Fixed Harajuku memory leak. *Adjusted issue where player character disappears after entering elevator from the right. *Other minor fixes. For 1.13: *Adjustment of enemy attack hitboxes and behavior patterns. *Issue where items cannot be gained even when crouching. *Skip icon not disappearing after FMV ends. *Removed enemy wave meters from elevators with no encounters. *Selected save data from the title screen not loading. For 1.14: *Movies not playing, especially the preview part for upcoming Budokan update. *Obstacles found in the Ichigaya underground with high HP can be bypassed without breaking them. Version 1.15~1.16 Both released July 16, 2018. For 1.15: *Mutant:Assault gets stuck in the wall after a jumping attack. *Explosion effects in Ichigaya. *Fixed breakable objects in Ichigaya becoming unbreakable. For 1.16: *Corrected certain enemies inexplicably falling through the ground after the 1.15 update. Version 1.17 Released July 17, 2018. *Fixed enemies not spawning in certain confrontation areas. *Made the mouse cursor stay within the game screen (for windowed mode). *Removed bug that made Huge Horn invincible. *Adjustment of the Thunder weapon ability. Version 1.18 & 1.18.1 Released July 18, 2018. For 1.18: *Bug fix on stacking percentage abilities between skills & attachment. *Corrected achievements unlocking even though the intended requirements weren't met. *Remedied instances where player can accidentally get stuck inside a rock. *Fixed an issue where a battle that is supposed to occur only once happens again. *Ability stacking made possible, earlier version only enabled one with the higher percentage rate. *Fixed "PinchHeal" ability to activate on any weapon equipped, with the recovery amount adjusted. *Added PS4 controller support *Separated control key assignments for menu navigation and gameplay. *Directional controls can now be mapped individually. *Implemented sequential weapon change controls. *Other minor fixes. *Running action is to be added but not implemented yet. For 1.18.1: *Fixed an issue where dodging causes events to be bypassed. Notes & Trivia *The plot of Dead Or School is meant to be a "what-if" side story based on the Machine Doll Nanami-Chan manga, with common elements between the two becoming more and more obvious as the game story progresses. *The promotional trailer mistakenly had the copyright date of 2008 instead of 2018. This was corrected in subsequent videos and other promotional material. *Hisako's voice actress was credited in-game for performing three roles, the main character herself, Hisako's mother and grandmother. The voices for the latter two can only be heard in the promotional video, not the game proper. External Links *http://www.nanafushi.jp/ *https://store.steampowered.com/app/789760/DEAD_OR_SCHOOL/ *https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/dead-or-school#/ Category:Dead Or School Category:Indie Game